On a Sunday morning in May, 1912,
onlookers cheered as a local cyclist sped through
Hicksville
.Jerome “Pete” Steinert
was midway through the first of three long laps, competing in a race
which would not end for seven more hours.Although the finish line was at Floral Park, Steinert was on his
way to
Stockholm
.

Hicksville’s
Steinerts

Pete was the seventh of nine children.He was born to Agnes and Joseph Steinert in Hicksville late in
1883, not long after the Steinert family moved east from the
Bronx
.In those years, the family
lived north of the central part of
Hicksville
village, on “the
Jericho Road
” (now North Broadway).Both
his father and his grandfather, Herman Steinert, were lawyers.As late as 1890, Joseph Steinert was listed in the New York City
Directory as a resident of
Hicksville
, but one who still shared law offices in the City with his brothers
Henry and Max.

Known throughout the town as Judge
Steinert, even after he retired from the bench, Joseph
Steinert was an educated and capable man.He gained prominence, both in the day-to-day life of his
community, and in county politics.Over the course of his lifetime, he was elected or
appointed to a number of public offices, including:

Justice
of the Peace

Special
Deputy Sheriff

Oyster Bay
Town Supervisor for the Queens County
Board of Supervisors

Chief
Justice of the
Queens
County
Court of Special Sessions

from a photograph in the Hicksville Archives
at the
Hicksville
Public Library

Two
Clarifications

These
illustrations, respectively from the 1910
U.S.
Census and a 1912 newspaper article, are part of the evidence which
demonstrates that Joseph was Jerome’s father.They are included here because some published material, written
before these resources became more easily available, indicates that
Judge Steinert was Pete’s uncle.Presumably,
the only resources available to its authors were oral histories and
personal journals, which sometimes can be imperfect.

Another
point to clarify is that, as implied by the above list of offices held
by Judge Steinert, Hicksville once was part of
Queens
County
.
Nassau
County
was not carved out of
Queens
until 1899.

Early
Racing Career

It is not clear when Pete Steinert
first entered an organized cycling race.The earliest report of formal competition which I have found
refers to an event held on May 30th, 1901, when he was 17
years old.He probably
already had racing experience, for on that day he was victorious in two
races, one of them ten miles long.As
time went by, Pete showed confidence in his riding, competing on tracks,
in road races, in hill climbs – and even in
something described as a “Liverpool Steeplechase.”Although Long Island offered opportunities in many places (e.g.,
Glen Cove
, Valley Stream,
Ronkonkoma
, Manhasset, and
Brooklyn
), he was not content to remain a local success.

He also raced at
the velodromes of northern
New Jersey
, which regularly attracted the fastest cyclists in the
Eastern United States
.

By 1909, he was
ready for the U.S. National Championships (held that year at the
Vailsburg, NJ track, shown here).He finished first in his qualifying heats for the one
mile event, and solidified his place in the sport by placing
third in the final.

patch.com/new-jersey/southorange/local-history-a-legacy-of-cycling

Any joy was short-lived,
however.A month later,
Steinert was on the same track for a regional championship.During one race, he was riding part-way up the banked track,
following close behind Clarence Carmen, the national champion.Suddenly, Carmen tried to dart to the inside, between two
cyclists.He struck one of
their wheels and went down.Pete
could not help but crash over him; both men were seriously injured.One of Steinert’s collarbones was broken into three pieces.It was time to convalesce.

Not
Today’s Bicycles

Early bicycles had been too primitive
to race.The wooden bone shakers of the 1840s were slow and awkward, even tortuous to
ride.By the 1870s, things
had evolved; there were new bicycle frames made of metal tubing, wheels
with tensioned wire instead of wooden spokes, and solid rubber tires.When these things came together, people realized that they had
bicycles which they could race, and they did.

Like early airplanes, these bicycles
were not sleek or lean.Indeed,
they looked a bit ridiculous.In
England
, they were called penny farthings
(i.e., a small coin next to a very large coin); in other countries, they
were known as ordinaries.The nattily-attired young Californians below are not racing their
machines; this must have been a pleasure ride.You can see how relaxed and carefree they are.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pennyfarthing-1886.jpg

Why were the front wheels so big?There were no gears; the rider pedaled a crank that was part of
the front axle.For the ordinary
to go faster than a child’s tricycle, the front wheel had to be
larger.To win races, it had
to be MUCH larger, with a diameter of 60” or more.Ordinaries were fast
(for their time) and they were dangerous.A fall, or even just climbing off, was risky.Moreover, there were no brakes.As with the bicycles used for modern sprints, to slow his
machine, a cyclist resisted the turning of the pedals with his feet and
leg muscles – something which was practically impossible when his legs
were so fully extended as those in the picture above.To stop quickly, an accomplished “wheelman” leaned forward to
grab the front tire and stop its rotation.In such a stop, he risked being catapulted over the ordinary’s
front wheel, and on the way forward his thighs might be impaled upon the
handlebars.The racers of
the day were not only dashing; they were daring.

Around the time that Jerome Steinert
was born, bicycles advanced further.The advent of the bicycle chain made possible the use of
different-sized gears on a crank and axle, a combination which made huge
wheels obsolete.These
features were combined in what became known as the safety
bicycle.A few years later,
the invention of inflatable tires made cycling even better.The example below (which is missing its pedals) is a
well-preserved Czech-made safety.

sterba-bike.cz

Don’t
let the familiar appearance mislead you. These racers did not have
“freewheeling” or “coaster” hubs; the pedals moved whenever the
bicycle did – even in a 150 mile race.

In
1912, derailleurs had not yet been perfected, and they were not used in
racing.Before a race began,
a rider either chose a gear for the rear axle, or simply used the same
gear he always used.Whether
racing on level ground, up and down hills, on a wooden track or on a
dirt road, mile after mile he used the same gear.

The safety type would never completely go away; year by year, it
gradually evolved.Steinert
doubtlessly pedaled a safety
in his youth, and he certainly raced one.They were much less risky than ordinaries
– for one thing, you didn’t have as far to fall, and a rider might
be able to land on his feet.There
still were no brakes, for in that era, bicycle brakes quickly wore down
tires, and sometimes caused punctures, but at least the strong legs of
the rider were better positioned to use the pedals for slowing his
machine.

Of course, having safer
machines only encouraged cyclists to take more chances.Wheelmen were still dashing and daring.

Comeback

The next Hicksville
Athletic Club games, in which the A.C. (Steinert was a founding member
when the organization began in 1905) competed against representatives of
other athletic associations, occurred only eight weeks after
Steinert’s injury.With
barely time to recover, Pete chose to race.Although the level of competition probably did not match what he
had faced at Vailsburg, he must have been pleased to win both the
one-half mile and five mile races.

A drawback of relying on
old newspapers for research is that not all of them have survived, and
there are gaps.The extant
newspapers show almost no evidence of Steinert’s racing in 1910.Perhaps he had little time for the sport due to his job (he was
an underwriter for an electric utility).It seems more likely, however, that he needed a prolonged period
to heal completely, and then to get his body back into racing condition
– which he eventually did.Reports
in two 1911 newspapers indicate that he must have done some racing in
the prior year, for they refer to Pete’s having been the 1910 U.S.
National Champion in the quarter-mile.Continued respect for his cycling was further reinforced in 1911,
by his winning a half-mile race at the 12,500 seat Newark Velodrome,
after which a newspaper reported that Pete Steinert had “regained his
form.”

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/toc-tracks-and-velodromes.125781/

That September, Hicksville
A.C. held a Cycling Carnival
competition, and Steinert had a remarkable day.He had the fastest absolute time in the five mile handicap; he
took five seconds off the national record for the one-quarter mile, and
he also set a new two mile record, eleven seconds better than the old.He definitely was back.

Making
the Team

The modern Olympics had been
instituted in 1896, and as late as 1909, a number of nations still were
uncertain about continuing with them.The most recent Olympiads had experienced problems: spotty
participation in
St. Louis
in 1904, hasty relocation of the 1908 games (from
Rome
to
London
, thanks to the financial impact of the 1906 eruption of Vesuvius), and an overall tendency toward un-Olympic commercialism.

For the 1912 Olympics, a consensus was
reached that
Stockholm
would be the only bidder for the Vth
Olympiad, based on its commitment to the perceived principles of the
ancient games.In keeping
with that commitment, Swedish authorities revisited the list of sports
which would be contested, and they decided to exclude cycling.In fact, to make room for other sports venues, they demolished
Stockholm
’s only velodrome.Their
decision was met with international opposition in favor of cycling
(including one proposal for bicycle
polo).

A compromise was reached: there would
be one cycling event at
Stockholm
– a road race, for which individual and national team medals would be
awarded.An existing cycling
route near
Stockholm
would be used; local races had been held on it for several years.It was daunting, wrapping around
Lake
Mälaren
on dirt roads, some of them likely to have ruts from automobile traffic.There were hills, some described in the press as
“mountainous.”Moreover
the course was long, measuring not quite 199 miles.It remains the longest course ever used for any type of race in the modern Olympics.

In the spring of 1912,
newspapers around the country carried notices similar to this
one.

Clearly, endurance was in
order.Cyclists who
only sprinted, or those who depended on their quick lane changes
on velodrome tracks, need not have bothered to attempt the long
road races.

And so, on the 5th of May,
Pete Steinert and 21 other cyclists (some news reports miscounted them)
assembled at
Floral Park
to pedal for 150 miles.There
would be three laps.Maps of
the precise route do not seem to have survived, but this much is known:
from Floral Park, riders raced to Amityville, then went north, passing
through Hicksville to
Jericho
, and then they returned through the same towns to
Floral Park
to conclude a lap of 50 miles.I
do not know if the return trip followed precisely the same roads as the
outbound.I also do not know
what accommodation was made for the railroad crossings along the way –
it is doubtful that the Long Island Railroad would have stopped its
trains so that cyclists could cross the tracks ahead of them.

Only ten of the starters finished the
race, and the top competitors among them were excellent:

Within a week, seven comparable races
had been completed across the country.A news report stated that the top finishers from all eight races
would compete against each other on May 24th in a final
qualification race, in order to determine the members of the Olympic
cycling team.That report
was not exactly correct, however….

Well before the final qualifying race,
newspapers announced that Pete Steinert had been named to the Olympic
cycling team.Apparently,
similar news reports appeared around the country for other competitors.For the final qualification race, only twelve competitors
assembled at
Newark
; Steinert was not among them.They
raced one mile (six laps) around the track, then continued into
Newark
and raced 98 miles through
New Jersey
, returning to the velodrome for the 100th mile.Based on the results of this race, and performances in earlier
races, the final roster of the team was named, including alternates to
replace any riders who for some reason could not compete in
Stockholm
.

With their departure for
Europe
a few weeks away, the athletes had to stay in shape, and the team needed
to raise money.Hence, early
in June, some of the U.S. Olympians participated in a fund-raising day
at
Celtic
Park(a sports complex in Queens, built by the Greater New York Irish
Athletic Association; it was adjacent to
Calvary
Cemetery
).There were track and
field events, and also an East-West bicycle race, with Steinert (who,
thanks to his mother Agnes, was half Irish) competing for the East.

wingedfist.org/Celtic_Park_History.html

Two days before the athletes departed
for the Olympics, the Hicksville A.C. honored Steinert, at a dinner at
Hicksville
’s Wolgast Hotel.Among
the several speakers was his father, the venerable Judge.Pete was presented with an inscribed silver cup, in honor of both
the work he had done for the club, and his representing his country in
the upcoming games.Some of
those present posed for a group photo, which later was published in the Long
Islander newspaper (shown below, with annotations added).Steinert, his bicycle, his father, and three of his six brothers
appear in the image.

Note
that the Long Islander labels the man seated to the left of the
bicycle as “James Jr.”He
is either James Steinert, or he is Joseph Steinert Jr.

Stockholm

The opening ceremonies for the 1912
Olympics began late on the morning of July 6th, each
nation’s athletes following their country’s flag as they marched
into the stadium.With the
entrance of the Japanese team, the games became the first Olympics to
include competitors from five continents.King Gustav V spoke; he would continue to participate in
ceremonies during the games, personally awarding medals to athletes.

Athletes
Entering (the
U.S.
Team is wearing dark blazers) / olympic.org/stockholm-1912

The cycling race was to be contested
the next day.The
determination of the team medals would be straightforward: the times of
each nation’s top four finishers would determine the rankings.With regard to the official log of the participants, any rider
who crossed the finish line with a time more than 25% above that of the
winner would be deemed to have not finished the race.The cyclists had been assigned to groups for the staggered start,
with each group departing at a fixed time.As the first group was to start at 2:00 AM, it is doubtful that
many cyclists lingered at the conclusion of the opening ceremonies.

120 cyclists started the race.Rudolph Lewis, a South African, was the individual winner, having
completed the course in 10:42:39, with an average speed over 199 miles
of more than 18.5 mph.American
Carl Otto Schutte of Kansas City was third at 10:52:87.Pete Steinert finished at 12:08:13, well behind, but still among
the top half of the starters.The
team winner was
Sweden
, with a four-man total time of 44:35:34 (the top four Swedish riders,
very familiar with the course, consecutively finished seventh through
tenth).As in the individual
rankings,
Great Britain
was second in the team rankings, and the
U.S.
was third, with its top four riders totaling 44:47:55, exactly 42
minutes ahead of the next team’s total.

From an American perspective, Schutte
was the cycling story of the games.In the 150 mile qualifier in the heat of
St. Louis
, his winning time against a handful of opponents had been an
unspectacular 10:42:05, nearly the same time it took him to ride 49
miles further in
Stockholm
.In the final qualifying
race in
Newark
, his pace had been much more impressive, but doubts had lingered about
his endurance beyond 100 miles.

Pete Steinert, and the other
American cyclists who finished below the top four, must have
felt some disappointment.Nonetheless,
their hours spent pedaling over 199 miles of unfamiliar terrain
had demonstrated that they ranked in the upper echelon of the
world’s best.Indeed,
even using the average speed of the top eight Americans instead
of only the fastest four, the U.S. still would have won the team
bronze, and by good margin.Like all the participants in the games, they each
received a pewter medal, as illustrated here.

Afterwards, the cyclists would
have explored
Stockholm
, and watched the other events.Pete did not remain in
Sweden
until the end; with other Americans whose events had completed,
he traveled to
Dover
, and on July 21st he sailed for the
U.S.
aboard the S.S. Vaderland.

olympicartifacts.com

When the ship arrived in
New York
on July 31st, the Olympians were greeted by exultant
reporters, family members, colleagues, and friends.One newspaper article took some liberties, referring to the group
of returnees as “
America
’s victorious Olympic athletes.”

Life
After Cycling

Soon to turn 29, Pete seemed to leave
cycling competitions behind (at least, his name no longer appeared in
newspapers in that context).Late
in 1913, he married a young Brooklyn woman; they honeymooned in Bermuda,
and settled down in
Mineola
.Later, he and his wife
moved their family to
Jamaica
, next door to that of Pete’s brother William.He frequently returned to
Hicksville
, either for family visits, or to remain active in the Athletic Club,
supporting its activities and coaching athletes in a number of sports.He also advised cyclists, both professional and amateur, on their
training.

During World War I, he worked in
Washington
,
D.C.
for the War Industries Board, as Assistant Chief of its Fire Prevention
Section.Later, he managed
the
New York
office of the Automobile Underwriters Detective Agency.

Pete passed away in 1966, a month
before his 83rd birthday.He was buried in Hicksville’s
Plainlawn
Cemetery
.Among the others buried in
the plot is his brother William.

BillionGraves.com

Conclusion

Researching Jerome Steinert from old
news reports has been an interesting exercise.Like today’s sports reporters, the newshounds of a century ago
were prone to be overly optimistic or pessimistic.As noted earlier, facts sometimes gave way to reporters’ gut
feelings.

All memories can fade, but some grow
with the passage of time.For
example, years after one of
Hicksville
’s own went off to the 1912 games, a reporter wrote a retrospective
article about local athletes.It
mentioned another cyclist, saying he also had been named to the Olympic
cycling team, but “as a sub,” and had been unable to attend the
games for financial reasons.Well…
a review of newspapers of the day turns up no reference to the fellow
with respect to the Olympic qualifying races.Nor does the official list of the men selected for the team –
pending their ability to raise the necessary funds to go to
Stockholm
– include him.The cyclist
may or may not have been good enough to compete at the games, but
apparently he did not try to qualify, and he clearly was not named to
the team in any way.Such
reporting, although perhaps well-intentioned, is mere hype.

Long after his foray to
Stockholm
, Pete Steinert was a spectator at a professional cycling race in
Manhattan
.The next day, a newspaper
article about the event mentioned him, and it remarked in passing that
he was the “greatest American road rider” the
U.S.
had seen.At first glance,
one might be tempted to also dismiss this as sports hype, but I think
that the reporter meant what he said.

It is easy to call a perennial
champion great, but Steinert was not a perennial champ.Calling him great, and in fact the greatest of all, while knowing
that he competed in an Olympics without medalling, is not something that
one would do frivolously.It
suggests that although Pete Steinert did not win an overwhelming
collection of medals, championships, and glory, the reporter saw in him
an abundance of character, and the essence of greatness.

One suspects that Steinert soon
rebounded from any disappointment which he felt after
Stockholm
.The Olympics had magnified
everything, especially in the eyes of the public, but they were not the
proper standard by which to measure his career.The race in
Stockholm
was a one-off, atypical of the events in which Pete and his peers
competed – even the qualifying races were longer than any other
American cycling event had ever been.And yet, on July 7th 1912, pedaling non-stop for
nearly 200 miles, Pete was able to finish amongst many of the world’s
best.In American cycling,
on tracks and over roads, he had proved himself a fine cyclist, a solid
performer, one who did not shy away from tough competition, and one who
set records along the way.Pete
Steinert was entitled to hold his head high.

***

And
to close…

A different take on the “Winged
Victory” theme: a c.1912 bicycle advertisement, designed to appeal to
the dashing wheelman